There has been a lot of excitement and media attention over the arrests by the FBI and the indictments of several people on charges related to alleged unlawful stem cell practices. Keep in mind that all these folks are innocent until proven guilty. Anyhow, you might wonder how the FBI got its info, etc? Was […]
The stem cell informer Read More »
There was another federal indictment just handed down that alleges that one Francisco Morales (aka Dr. Frank Morales) broke the law with stem cells. Allegedly he took umbilical cords (telling patients that they would be used for medical research), facilitated isolation of stem cells, and shipped them out of state to be used in dubious
Indicted alleged stem cell predator Morales & Margolis: any links? Read More »
The opponents of hope, those anti-cure crusaders, will not give up and they are active on both the state and federal levels. Today we heard from the S. Louis Beacon that “Missouri Roundtable for Life” is aiming for a 2012 ballot initiative to change the definition of human cloning in such a way that some forms
The anti-cure movement continues attacks on stem cell research, this time in Missouri Read More »
Yesterday Geron announced it would be immediately stopping its stem cell research program. What does this mean? While this program has (or should I say “had”) a number of elements, at its heart was of course its hESC-based OPC drug (GRNOPC1) for spinal cord injury, which was in an FDA-approved Phase I Clinical Trial that
The day after Geron’s news: a realistic outlook for the stem cell field Read More »
What should patients think about and ask about when they are considering a stem cell treatment, particularly from a for-profit, unproven stem cell clinic? Patient guide to stem cell therapies For better or worse, I am in the unique position in 2021 of being a stem cell scientist and also a former cancer patient. Looking
What is stem cell therapy? Read More »
It was only a few weeks ago that I reported that the federal government would very soon be taking more legal action against purveyors of dubious, potentially illegal stem cell treatments that might even be called a stem cell scam. Here’s the first of what is likely to be many more actions. Many media outlets
Doctor indicted in Vegas for alleged fake stem cell scam Read More »
It is nice to be back home, but I really enjoyed the World Stem Cell Summit. It was an energizing, inspiring meeting. There was a huge amount of information presented including new ideas and challenges to the existing paradigms. I’ve condensed it down for you. Below I list and briefly discuss what I thought were
7 key take home action items from the World Stem Cell Summit 2011 Read More »
Stem Cell Tourism is a blanket term now used to refer to patients receiving non-FDA approved stem cell treatments either by traveling here within the U.S. or more often outside the U.S. Clinics are sprouting up all over the world offering treatments based on stem cells. The science behind these is often non-existent. Most stem
Stem cell tourism disaster coming: my case for caution Read More »
What will we define as a success for any given stem cell biotech? In academia, even if we do pre-clinical, translational kind of biomedical sciences, we still do not often think about what it takes to succeed in industry. Even if we very much want our research to make a difference for patients, do we
There has been a lot of publicity about the reported stem cell treatment of NY Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon. According to several sources, Colon received his treatment in his native Dominican Republic. Major League Baseball reportedly seems most concerned about this case, at least publicly, because human growth hormone (hGH) might have been used in
Stem cell sports medicine: trying to win the World Series during Spring training Read More »